Local Accommodation Establishments' Strategies in Social Media

Abstract

Tourism is a phenomenon of contemporary society, being one of the economic sectors where information has an essential function and where the impact of social media had more evidence. Digital technologies are increasingly present in life and have radically changed the way people think, make decisions and interact. Consumers are more demanding and informed, supporting their buying decisions in the online world. These changes also have implications in the tourism sector and in the promotion of tourist destinations. Given this new paradigm, the local accommodation units, as the most recent accommodation modality, have registered a remarkable growth and due to the characteristics of the activity itself, have to accompany and adapt to this new reality. The present work intends to analyze how Local Accommodation units in Aveiro use the Internet, and in particular the applications of social media in their communication strategies, as well as the importance they give to this reality of the digital world.